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The Point of Truth for Runtime Recipe Control

The latest release of SmartFactory Recipe Management offers better data synchronization options for runtime recipe control.
Managing thousands of recipes is a fundamental requirement of recipe management (RM). To provide a foundation of recipe control in a facility, manufacturers must synchronize information between their MES and equipment. Today RM systems must accommodate individual user organization preferences and provide flexible configuration options. Some tool owners, may store recipes in a single folder on their equipment. Others may create unique folders and sub-folders based on technology, products, or unique conventions, which change over time. Regardless of the method, synchronization of recipe name and location, as defined on equipment, must occur at runtime.
To better manage the synchronization of data between the MES and equipment, Applied SmartFactory® Recipe Management System (RMS), version 2.1.0, powered by the Applied E3® framework, is tailored for equipment recipe body and recipe parameter control. This new release continues to build upon high volume manufacturing proven methodologies, including recipe resolution modes for fully qualified recipe mapping.

Mitigating Cross-application Changes

With SmartFactory RMS, version 2.1.0 released in April 2022, our vision is to use recipe management as the “point of truth” for runtime recipe control and mitigate cross-application changes. Now, a short form recipe name (e.g., Recipe_Product_A) is the common identifier, yet at a system level, the recipe name and directory (as defined on the equipment) dictate the fully qualified recipe:

Recipe Directory + Recipe Name (short form) = Fully Qualified Recipe

In MES-centric environments, qualified recipes are included in MES route definitions. While effective, this method may require changes in both the RM system and MES if either the recipe directory or recipe names are modified on the equipment. The challenge is that organizationally, people responsible for creating and modifying recipes on equipment and those responsible for MES routes are often on different teams with different execution timelines.

In such cases, our RMS provides better synchronization between the MES and equipment by enhancing and expanding its runtime resolution modes and providing external short form conversion modeling and external context resolution.
  • External Short Form Mode. External short form mode inherits the short form recipe name from the MES definition and provides a recipe directory conversion modeling interface in RM to generate the fully qualified name. Decoupling the recipe directory from the MES definition enables organizational responsiveness, such as adding or modifying folder names on the equipment based on product changes or when introducing new technology.
  • External Context Resolution. This feature enhances flexibility by using MES contextual information to resolve the fully qualified name at runtime. For example, a key combination of Operation + Equipment + Product could be modeled to obtain the appropriate recipe (e.g., Recipe Directory + Recipe_Product_A). Decoupling both the recipe directory and recipe name from the MES route definition enables flexibility for individual organizational preferences.
In either mode, SmartFactory RM defines and resolves mapping fully qualified names to minimize MES route modifications. This, in turn, enables RM teams to operate independently, while maintaining synchronization for runtime recipe control.

To learn more about SmartFactory Recipe Management 2.1.0

About the Author

Eric Warren
Eric Warren
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